Post Tagged 'classical liberalism'

In many countries, debates we had 40 years ago are starting to be rehashed: can one be both a Catholic and a classical liberal?
It’s good to remember some of the arguments that liberal Catholics used then to justify their positions. Continue Reading...

Though certainly not well known in North America, Juan Bautista Alberdi is a towering figure in the history of Argentina. He was a major influence on the Argentine constitution and was an intellectual force in 19th-century South America. Continue Reading...

On this day in 1632, one of the greatest champions of liberty and someone often referred to as the “Father of Liberalism,” John Locke, was born. Although Locke’s philosophy played a crucial role in the American founding, there is still much that we can learn from his writings today. Continue Reading...

In considering issues of political economy today, it is always prudent to refer to wisdom from the past. The American Enterprise Institute’s recent publication “Economic Freedom and Human Flourishing: Perspectives from Political Philosophy” is a collection of essays that analyzes the thought of several prominent philosophers on the connection between the title’s two subjects. Continue Reading...

“It’s all in Plato, all in Plato: bless me,
what do they teach them at these schools!”
– Digory Kirke in C.S. Lewis’s The Last Battle
The way Professor Kirk feels about Plato is how I feel about Frederick Bastiat. Continue Reading...

In a 2013 commencement address at Messiah College in Pennsylvania, Makoto Fujimura told the graduating class, “We are to rise above the darkened realities, the confounding problems of our time.” A tall order for any age, but one God has decisively overcome in Jesus Christ. Continue Reading...

After 6,712 cyclones, typhoons, and hurricanes the evidence is clear: Bastiat was right all along.
In 1850, the economic journalist Frédéric Bastiat introduced the parable of the broken window to illustrate why destruction, and the money spent to recover from destruction, is not actually a net benefit to society (see the video at the end of this post for an explanation of the broken window fallacy). Continue Reading...

In his latest column for National Review, Jonah Goldberg notes the difference between being pro-business and pro-market and says the GOP can’t have it both ways anymore:
Just to clarify, the difference between being pro-business and pro-market is categorical. Continue Reading...

Who is the biggest enemy of the free market system? The late Milton Friedman, one of the 20th century’s most prominent free market champions, had a surprising answer: the business community.
Economist Arnold Kling explains why support for markets and business are not the same thing: Continue Reading...